Popular Mechanics Develops Spacecraft Game in May iPad Issue

PM Deputy Editor Jerry Beilinson

Not Lost in (the Digital) Space: 
Popular Mechanics Develops Spacecraft Game in May iPad Issue

Do video games belong on magazine iPad apps? Popular Mechanics is about to find out.  The magazine brand has included a video game called “Touchdown” about landing a spacecraft within its monthly iPad app for the May issue, which features a cover story about how humans will visit space in the next several decades. Game users must attempt to maneuver their own lander spacecraft on Mars, an asteroid or Earth.  (See video trailer for the game here.) This marks the first time that Popular Mechanics has embedded a video game within its iPad editions.  We wanted to find out more about the game so we reached out to Deputy Editor Jerry Beilinson who played a big role in its development.  

MPA:  Your May issue is pretty cool with its cover story on how humans will visit space in the next several years. Why did you decide to take the cosmic leap to develop a video game for your tablet edition? Are your editors way ahead of the curve or have they been trapped in a spacesuit for too long without enough oxygen?

Beilinson:  Our spacesuits are filled with premium oxygen imported from Finland, so we feel just fine. The iPad is a great technology for reading and viewing photos, but it also lets us tell stories in new ways: games, data visualization modules, calculators, videos. We're not just magazines anymore: We're technology companies. And we like it that way. As for being ahead of the curve, which one? If you send us a quadratic equation for the curve you're envisioning, we'll plot some coordinates and get back to you.

MPA:  So let’s get this straight. Editors at Popular Mechanics are now responsible for developing video games? If this game starts a new trend in tablet publishing, will it create another skill set that editors are going to have to master over the next few years?

Beilinson:  Well, at Popular Mechanics we already know how to weld, build liquid-cooled PCs and brew our own biodiesel, so skill acquisition is a hobby of ours. But, seriously, it's not like every single one of us does animation and game development. We don't all shoot cover photography or edit complex stories on biotech, either. As a group, we have the skills and drive to get things done. A project like this is analogous to a big infographic project or a conference or a gatefold in print: It's one more intriguing and fun way to communicate information.

MPA:  We watched the trailer for the game and we were quite impressed with the footage of Mars. Did you get that footage from NASA? Is Steven Spielberg on your payroll? Spill.

Beilinson:  We have exclusive access to secretive government archives stored underground at Area 51, in Nevada. Also, we have very talented artists and designers on staff. Uh, who's Steven Spielberg?

MPA:  How much time was devoted to the creation of the game? Would you say that it was worth the effort?

Beilinson:  "Touchdown" isn't only a game; it's also an article. Actually, it's a hybrid of a game and article, a "game-icle," so to speak. (We're thinking of trademarking that word and licensing it out.) So the first step was to conduct detailed reporting on the growing field of private space engineering, and specifically, the drive to build new kinds of landers capable of setting down on Mars, asteroids, or here on Earth after a trip to orbit. One of our top aerospace journalists did that reporting last fall, and that's when we storyboarded the project, as well. The intense work on animation and programming took place over a two-month period this spring. It was definitely worth it: We got to shoot on location in the asteroid belt, and had fun partying with the Russians on the Space Station. On the dark side of the moon I found this bizarre black monolith -- don't ask. Looking forward, the next time we do a "game-icle" (TM), we'll have a set of processes and technology to build on. And we'll certainly continue to experiment with innovative new models for storytelling.

MPA:  How do you define success for this game other than Steve Ballmer offering editor-in-chief Jim Meigs $5 million to license the game for Xbox?

Beilinson:  Actually, we turned down that offer and are holding out for a themed ride at Shanghai Disney. Success for the project would be, one, getting a mention by MPA. The second measure of success is positive feedback from our users. We embed surveys in the app, and in previous months have achieved an excellent response rate. Additionally, users email us all the time. The third mark of success has already been achieved: We've gained knowledge that will help move forward on similar projects. Finally, it¹s always nice to be imitated, and we hope and expect to see other magazines pushing creative boundaries in similar ways.

MPA:  What¹s next on the video game frontier for Popular Mechanics? And who is leading the charge?

Beilinson:  It's a magazine-themed first-person shooter where editors take on a zombie mob of writers pitching martini reviews. Kind of violent, actually. Besides that, we have several good projects in the works that should be released later this year. These are all group efforts. But our editor-in-chief, Jim Meigs, is the real champion for the vision of Popular Mechanics as a multiplatform brand.